At the Speed Of Light
by Corkk the Forgetful Scribe
Summary: Two members of team rocket arent who they seem. make sure you at least look over the previous chapters because ive been doing some heavy editing to fix some grammer and plot mistakes. done editing the first three chapters
1. Highway Robber

(I redid chapter one because of some complaints and confusion. Enjoy! (i hope))

(Brock)

"Hold it red head, put your pokemon down and step back, you too "Squinty", I don't want to hurt anyone, but the boss has put a reward on both of your heads. You two are labeled as 'dangerous to the cause'."

I turned towards the voice and nearly fell to the ground, standing there was a boy who looked shockingly similar to Ash, but no, things were different, his hair was red, as well as his eyes, and there was a huge scar running down the side of his neck.

I shot a glance at Misty who was standing next to me, and saw the confusion in her eyes too, we were being robbed by the spitting image of the boy she had loved.

No, it wasn't him. Ash was dead. He had died the day that Jesse and James had finally managed to capture Pikachu.

They had tried to use the same giant Robots as always, it had knocked both Misty and I unconscious. They got away, and it was all because Ash had decided not to bring any of his old pokemon with him. He had tried to pull a "Gary"arriving in the new region with only his first pokemon, his pikachu.

When we woke up, we were in the Pokemon center, apparently we had just barely survived an enormous explosion from what we could only assume to be the rocket's robot. We asked Officer Jenny where Ash was, but they didn't have any idea. They had been searching for survivors for 5 days, and they had only found a body, horribly burned and scarred beyond recognition.

Dead, dead and gone.

"You can't have our Pokemon! Just try to take them from us!" Misty returned, still shaken by the boys appearance.

"Yeah, just try, we have taken out scores of Grunts like yourself, what makes you think that you can take on two gym leaders alone?" I added angrily.

He laughed at us! I was pissed, yelling bloody murder, and he just started laughing.

"Lets just say I have a hunch," he retorted, "and plus-"he began.

"He's not alone," came a beautiful voice from behind us "After all, what would Red ever do without Blue?"

Standing behind us was a dazzlingly gorgeous girl with blue hair and dark blue eyes.

She winked at me, and held up five pokeballs.

I reached for my belt, and there was only one ball left.

"Aww, you're cute when you're confused" she said with a giggle.

"Oh, and I'm sure you haven't noticed that yours' are gone either huh red-head, or should I say Misty of Cerulean City Gym?" laughed the boy, as a Murkrow formed out of the shadows and landed on his arm with a belt full of pokeballs in its beak.

"HEY!!!! GIVE US BACK OUR POKEMON!!" shouted Misty, livid with rage.

"Well, if you say so," gasped the boy in between bouts of laughter. When he finally calmed down, he threw Misty one of her pokeballs. "We're fair thieves, we'll give you a chance to fight us for them, you with your corsola, and him with his mudkip. As an added bonus, we wont even play on your weaknesses."

The girl dropped a pokeball at her feet and out came a houndour, an angry little dog that spits fire, which should be an easy victory for our two water types. "After you," she giggled as Misty turned an ever brighter shade of scarlet.

"That's it!," Misty raged, "Corsola, use hydro pump on Houndour, full strength lets finish this quick and show these bastards not to mess with a gym leader."

Her corsola inhaled, and shot out a jet of water with enough pressure to rip through steel plating.

"Houndour, use faint attack to shadow step behind Mudkip and then use crunch." the girl responded.

I watched as the houndour faded out of existence before the hydro pump could hit it and appeared right behind my mudkip. It clamped down on my mudkip with its razor sharp teeth and shook it side to side until Mudkip couldn't take it anymore, and passed out.

"Okay Houndour, stop, we want to capture these pokemon, not kill them" she giggled. "and as for you sweetie," she said turning towards me, "looks like you lost, sorry but its night-night for you!"

"What are you talking about, its the middle of the-" was all I was able to get out before I felt a sharp jab in my neck. Without warning, I collapsed. I struggled to get up, but none of my muscles were responding. All I could do was lay there and watch.

"No! Brock!" gasped Misty, horrorstruck..

"Murkrow, use mirror move, copy Corsola's hydro pump and send it right back" the guy ordered, his voice now cold as steel.

I watched as the bird opened its beak and the torrent of water slammed into Corsola knocking it out cold.

I wanted to yell at misty to get out of there, to grab her Pokemon and run, but my jaw wouldn't move, so all that came out was a moan. The red haired boy stepped behind her, and delivered a swift blow to the back of her head. She crumpled to the floor.

I felt my eyes drooping, as whatever the girl did to me took effect. The last thing I heard before I faded into the cold was the boy kneeling down next to me and whispering: "Don't worry about your pokemon, Brock, they will be placed in my special collection, I will take good care of them, I promise."


	2. Who is Blood Red?

(chapter 2 is now updated and proofread)

(Red)

"Red! That was brutal!" giggled Blue as she ran up behind me. "Usually you play with them a little before you go in for the kill. Did you have some kinda beef with them or something? Before.... you know... before we found you?"

"Nah, just never really liked taking risks" I replied. "Two gym leaders are a formidable force, and those two were some of the strongest. Didn't you read our Intel on them? They spent years adventuring through the world, even across the orange islands. Not to mention, that they have taken down hundreds of members and even executives from Team Aqua, Team Magma, and even Team Rocket."

"In fact," she replied smoothly as she cartwheeled past me playfully, "I did read about them, I also read that they spent a lot of time traveling with your best friend-what was his name? Ash Ketchum?"

"SHUT IT!" I roared, picking her up by the collar of her uniform, "THAT BOY IS DEAD!"

"Mmmm such a strong man, I love it," she said mockingly, running her hand down my arm and over my shoulder. She wasn't even phased by my fiery temper anymore.

I had reasons to hate him, Ash was a weakling, he had gotten his friends hurt, bystanders killed, and his own best friends, his pokemon, killed or captured by team rocket. He was a danger to everyone around him. Things were better now that he was dead...

I put her down and started down the trail again. We walked along in an awkward silence for a while before Blue attempted to talk to me again.

"So why is it that we've worked together for almost a year now, and I still don't know anything about you." she said hopefully.

"I've told you all about me before, you just don't remember." I returned, sitting down on a log in a clearing. "Now what do you want to eat for lunch? we have a walk to go before we get to the next town."

"Thats a lie and you know it Red, you haven't told me jack-shit about your past. All I know about you is that you call yourself Red, no last name even, just Red. I managed to figure out that you came from somewhere in Kanto. I dont know where you found that murkrow, or why it never goes back in its ball" she gestured at the murkrow, which turned its beak haughtily. "You have a muk that absolutely adores you, as well as a kingler and a stantler, which have all been with you since before I met you. If pokemon could talk...." She finished dejectedly.

Oh, and I forgot, you had the balls to bust into our base and demand us give you our pokemon." she said laughing weakly. "Oh, and if possible make me some of that stew you make so well."

"Thats all you need to know, and way more than most of the team." I replied, hoping to put an end to that awkward topic.

I started gathering up some stew roots that an old friend had shown me how to cut up and boil. I reached into my bag and grabbed some dried meat. It was surprising how much I remembered from his cooking. My cooking wasn't anywhere near his level, but he was one of the most accomplished pokemon breeders in the world right now, so that was understandable.

I was bending over to close my pack again when, out of nowhere, Blue tackled me to the ground. I looked up to see her grinning with her syringe pressed against my neck.

"Checkmate!" she said cheerfully."Sorry Red, that shit's not gonna work this time, I dont buy the whole mystery guy thing. If you dont wanna fall asleep for the rest of the day, you're gonna tell me, who are you?" she said, confident that she would finally learn something about me, the infamous "Blood Red."

"I wish I could tell ya toots," I said sarcastically, "But you aren't in any position to be asking things of me."

With a rush of wind, Murkrow landed on a tree branch about 10 feet up, holding the syringe in its beak.

"WHAT!!! Thats no fair! I had you..." Blue cried frustratedly.

In the blink of an eye, she was on her back, and I was sitting smugly on her stomach, her hands pinned firmly under my boots.

"Just give up Blue," I said angrily, "I am who you see, there isn't any more to me."

"I don't get it, why are you so distant? Why dont you trust me?" she said, sounding hurt. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"

I looked at her closely, a tear ran down her cheek. It totally threw me off, in these past months, nothing had gotten past her bubbly facade. No matter who we robbed, what we stole, or even who got hurt, she always just smiled and went on. I had never seen her like this, it was like a totally different than the "Blue Shadow" that I was used to having around.

I turned towards the pot I had put down on the fire, and grabbed the meat out of my bag, stirring some into the stew, and then ladling some portions out for my pokemon.

"Sorry blue," I replied, finally, a little sad myself, "All I can tell you is that I used to be a trainer, I got good, and that attracted the wrong attention, and got some people hurt."

* * * * * *

(Blue)

"Who are you Red?" I wondered.

I had been with this boy for-practically-ever, and I didn't know anything about him. When Daddies men captured him after he broke into a base, he had been aggressive, and Daddy had enlisted him into the ranks as a grunt, figuring if anything his aggressiveness would help one of our operatives someday. He had ruthlessly carried out every single order without fail, and had earned an almost god-like reputation for success.

When I told Daddy that I wanted to be an agent, he had, after saying no for 3 days, finally consented. His one condition had been that I took Red as my partner. When I asked him why, he had laughed and just told me I would figure out eventually that Red was exactly the partner I needed by my side.

At first I had been a bit hesitant, Red was a joke. Sure he hadn't been beaten yet, and sure he followed orders to the 't', but he never took anything seriously. He didnt work well with others, and he insisted on giving his victims a fair fight. Father had been right though, Red accomplished each order with ruthless efficiency, and he took out every victim in 2 hits or less, one to the pokemon, and one to incapacitate the trainer. It was strange for a grunt to be so... well... nice, but I didn't mind, I kinda liked not actually having to really hurt people.

I looked up at Red, sleeping in the crook of one of the tree branches. For all that I accused him of not trusting me, he did at least trust me to keep watch, not that his murkrow wasn't watching as well, but it was still better than nothing. It had taken three months for him to let me take watch at all, and another month for him to give me first watch.

He was cute, really cute. In fact, if you ignored the red eyes and the scar that ran from his ear to his waist, he was hot. It always kinda made me shudder when he touched me, but recently, it had become a good feeling, and it frustrated me every time he put up a wall to keep me out.

Who just busts into a Team Rocket base? Who was he really? Why did I feel like I had seen him before? Why did everyone we met act like they had seen him somewhere before? Even those two gym leaders today, they were thoroughly shocked when they saw him, as if they had seen a ghost. Who was Blood Red?

I looked over at him, resting against the tree across the fire from me, his murkrow contently perched on his leg watching me intently. I shuddered, it was always watching. Watching me, watching the surroundings, watching Red, what was it looking for?

So many questions were running through my head.

What kinda problem did he have with that Ash Ketchum kid? One time about a month ago, I decided to look up this Ketchum boy. He did look a little like Red, but the eyes were wrong, and there was no scar on his neck. When I looked further, I learned that he had been a trainer out of Pallet Town, in Kanto, and had adventured with the two gym leaders we robbed today. He had earned badges in every region, and even made is way to the final rounds of almost every league tournament. His Pikachu had once had a 10 million dollar bounty on its head, and as of a year ago, was now held in secret in a base deep under Sinnoh. The capture of the pikachu, as well as the death of Ash are attributed to Jesse and James, a pair of bumbling agents that had been chasing Ash since the beginning of his journeys.

Wanted for his murder, the two were hiding, albeit comfortably, in the Sinnoh Headquarters in a top floor suite.

What bugged me most was that they could not stand to have Red around, and everytime he came near, they would run screaming about ghostly vengeance.

The most important questions though, were: Who was Blood Red really? And why did I care?


	3. Bounty Hunter, Gary Oak

(chapter three is redone, hope it's better this should be the last one i have to redo.)

(Red)

"We'll reach the town in about ten minutes Blue," I shouted over my shoulder at the panting girl behind me. "Remember, this towns not a target, or a threat, there is no reason to do more than walk through. Honestly, its not like they have anything worth stealing anyway."

"Why are you always running?" she groaned back "Whats wrong with stealing some food every once in a while anyway? We're Team Rocket Agents, its almost required of us." she challenged.

"Yeah? Required huh? Should we also start every battle with 'PREPARE FOR TROUBLE!'?" I asked, making a mock pose. "We may be Team Rocket, but we don't have to be Jesse and James, those two are pitiful, it took them years to capture a single pokemon, three-fourths of the pokemon they failed to catch I have caught in these past few months. They mock what it is to be a rocket." I finished.

"At least those two were fun, not just a stick in the mud like you!" she shot back, "all you ever want to do is walk around the country side. Do you realize we have been to 10 different bases in these last 2 months?" I don't care if you are the most successful agent in Sinnoh, YOU ARE SOO BORING!!" she yelled at me.

I let her vent, there was nothing I could do about it. She was the spoiled daughter of some high ranking executive, she had been pampered for most of her life and a little walking was doing her good. Besides, if I was required to partner with her, which wasn't that bad usually, she would have to follow me, because I had things to do..

We stepped into the town, and immediately I could tell something was wrong. The townspeople on edge. They were walking hurriedly from place to place, trying not to look at anything or anyone in particular. They were scared of something.

"Do you think they recognize us?" whispered Blue, who was, I had to admit, perceptive if nothing else.

"No, they couldn't," I replied. "We aren't in uniform, we just look like a pair of travelers. Trust me, something is definitely up..." I said through gritted teeth. I didn't like this at all. It was a trap. But what kind of trap, and for who?

"Lets get out of here, I don't like the feel of this" agreed Blue.

We walked through the town square, past the pokemon center, and the poke-mart. Everything was peaceful, but I just couldn't shake that there was something wrong here.

"I guess we were just a little nervous huh?" whispered blue with a nervous giggle, "Maybe its just a bad day? EEEEEEPPP!!!!!!"

I whipped around as Blue screamed, and saw her squirming in the claws of an overly large Blastoise. Standing next to them was a teenager in a blue shirt, with his spiked hair and cocky grin, I knew him the second I saw him.

"Gary Oak, for what do we have the pleasure of your impromptu attack?" I growled, none to pleasantly. "and, would you mind putting down my friend there?"

"The notorious team rocket agents, Blood Red, and the Blue Shadow, I've been hunting you two for 2 months now." he replied back grinning cockily back at me. "I never figured it would be this easy to take you two in, but I guess that's what you get when you plan every move."

"Drop the girl and I will fight you, if you win, you can turn me in" I shot back, pulling on my lucky Rocket Cap. "You won't get very far if you take her, but I am the one with access to the stolen pokemon."

"Sure," he replied, "Or, I could just use her to make you give up. 2 pidgey with one rock throw, you get the concept, no? No, I'm not going to let her go, I know better than to fight you both. In the past two months you have been responsible for the robbery of nearly 50 trainers, and even three gym leaders. You have held Sinnoh in your grip for too long."

"What can I say? I'm just following orders." I returned

"Sorry buddy, orders or not, I'm putting an end to this now. Arcanine, use flame wheel" he commanded as he tossed out a pokeball. His arcanine roared and charged, curling into a flaming ball that hurtled towards me with malicious intent.

"Stantler, Take Down!" I shouted as my deer shot out of its ball, and slammed into the flaming dog. It braced its legs stopping the arcanine in its tracks, then threw it backwards where it uncurled and landed on its feet "Sorry Oak, but I'm not a normal grunt, you wont find six rattata's here." I sneered back

"whatever, your team cant save you" he growled, "arcanine, close in and use bite"

His arcanine bounded in towards stantler and opened its mouth ready to ravage its unprotected flanks.

"Dodge it and use hypnosis" I shouted.

The deer leaped to the side, and its horns began to glow purple. It stared blankly at the raging dog concentrating its psychic powers into its horns.

"Like I'd fall for that old trick, arcanine, use flame wheel again." shouted Gary

The dog curled up again and shot towards my stantler and I saw my mistake right as it was to late: while arcanine was curled up, it wasn't looking into stantler's eyes, which meant hypnosis was useless.

Gary's arcanine slammed into stantler, with a force that knocked the deer back into a building, laying it out cold..

"I'm sorry stantler, if we make it out of this, I promise I wont make a mistake like that ever again," I whispered as I returned it to its pokeball. "Murkrow, use haze," I shouted as my bird lifted off of its perch on my shoulder.

The Crow opened its beak and black smog filled the area. I pulled on a simple face mask to keep the smoke from affecting me, and a pair of goggles so I could see through it.

"Arcanine, use Flamethrower," shouted Gary, obviously thinking he still had the advantage.

I leaped to the side behind a building as fire shot through to the place I previously occupied.

I had to take control of this battle before someone got hurt.

* * * * *

(Gary Oak)

"One Down, and 3 to go" I thought to myself. This battle was going perfectly, my plan was unstoppable. This "Blood Red" would pay for his crimes. In the past 5 months, this mysterious thief had stolen hundreds of pokemon, robbing everyone from the weakest trainers, to gym leaders. The strange thing was, he had robbed each of the trainers that had traveled with Ash throughout the world. His most publicized victims included: Famous artist Tracy Sketchit, Contest Champion May, her genius brother max, and now the gym leaders Brock and Misty.

At first I had thought that he might have been Ash himself, possibly undercover in team rocket, but even with the looks, it couldn't be. For one thing, Ash would never rob his friends, and also, his pokemon were safely with professor, with the exception of his Muk and his Kingler, which were stolen from Tracy Sketchit.

"Arcanine, use Flamethrower, and aim for Red," I said calmly as the haze filled the streets.

It let out a roar and opened its maw as flames engulfed the street in front of it, piercing the haze.

"Ha ha, nice shot boy, I would never thought the champion of justice would resort to attacking the trainer himself," shouted the cocky robber through the haze. "But you just lost."

Helplessly blind, all I could do is listen as there was an explosion, and out of the smog flew my Arcanine. It slammed into Blastoise, knocking the girl, Blue, out of its hands. It landing on her trapping her under its unconscious fur.

"Murkrow, clear the haze with your Gust," shouted Red from somewhere off to the left.

I felt a blast of wind, and the black fog was gone, and there was Red, standing in his Team Rocket costume, his hat turned backwards, it almost looked like.... well.... Ash... but no, Ash was dead.

In front of him stood a wickedly familiar looking kingler. It had torn a huge trench in the street with its explosive crab-hammer.

"Red! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!" Blue shouted, struggling under the arcanine's fur.

"Yes your Blue-ness!" he yelled back laughing. "I'll save you once I vanquish this garrulous knave!"

Knave? Was he really just fucking with me? He knew who I was, but he was just fucking with me! Who the hell was this "Blood Red" and where did he get off mocking the greatest trainer alive?

"Exeggutor, shut him up!" I yelled. I didn't know why, but this guy really got under my skin.

The tree shambled out of its pokeball and started to gently sway in the breeze.

"Now, use egg bomb!" I commanded.

Exeggutor shook its torso and began heaving eggs at the crab. Without any command from its owner, the kingler began scuttling side to side, dodging the eggs as they exploded on the ground.

"Kingler, use metal claw!" red ordered, lounging easily on the roof of the poke-mart.

"Protect!" I shouted.

The crab's claw started glowing and it wound up and slammed it into the tree pokemon's barrier, which turned it to the side.

"Now use Giga Drain" I ordered, trying to follow up on my advantage.

Exeggutor slammed its foot down on the crab and roots erupted and engulfed its body. The roots started draining the health out of the water pokemon, and I looked at Red, expecting him to panic at the impending loss of his pokemon. Instead, he merely shrugged and said one cold word.

"Guillotine"

I watched in horror as the crabs claw shot up out of the mass of roots, grabbed my pokemon around the trunk, and severed its top half.

I fell to my knees and watched the life fade out of my pokemon. When I got up, my eyes were full of hate, this boy was going down, and I was going defeat him if it took every dirty trick I knew.

I looked up at Red and saw that he wasn't smiling anymore. "That's right," I thought, "I'm not a joke, so stop laughing"

"Pidgeot, use sky attack," I whispered, as I tossed its pokeball up in the air.

The bird shot up into the sky and started glowing pooling its energy into a no holds barred dive.

"You're wasting your energy, you know you will never hit me," snapped Red, looking at me questioningly.

"You're Right," I replied, "Or you would be. If I hadn't already planned this out."

I threw out another pokeball.

"Alakazam, use Psychic, hold Kingler in place." I said coldly.

Red watched with a look that said he had resigned to losing Kingler. Alakazam began to glow blue and Kingler was raised off its feet and lifted into the air, right as Pidgeot flashed out of the sky and slammed into it with full force. The kingler and the pidgeot hit the ground hard enough to splinter the street, and when the dust settled, both pokemon lay there unconscious.

"You're lucky I don't blame pokemon for orders given by their masters." I said spitting at the ground next to me. "That kingler will be just fine, maybe it can even be returned to its original trainer."

"Shut it and chose your next pokemon, or would you like me to take out your alakazam next?" Red replied.

"No, you won't get that far. Rhydon's gonna take you out." I said coldly. There was no way I was gonna let him try to use that murkrow's dark advantage against my psychic pokemon.

I tossed out the pokeball and watched as Rhydon roared and stomped its feet threateningly. This pokemon would take him out, him and the rest of the buildings around him. When I had the reward money put up for Reds capture, I would return and rebuild the town we were quickly destroying.

"Your taking the direct approach huh?" he commented, "Lets drop this fool Muk."

He tossed down a pokeball and a putrid slime started oozing out. When it was finished, a pair of arms and eyes popped out, and it opened its mouth and bellowed its challenge at Rhydon.

"Rhydon use Take Down!" I yelled.

The tank of a rhino slammed into the slime and slammed it into a wall.

"Now keep using mega punch until you knock it out." I finished

I watched as Rhydon started pummeling it into the wall, something was nagging me, it didn't seem right for Red to just be watching his pokemon be pummeled into.... well... jelly. Then with a sickening feeling I realized just what he was planning on doing. I called for Rhydon to stop, to get away, but it was too late. I watched as the slime covered it from head to toe.

"Now, use Toxic, and follow it up with Giga Drain." Red ordered

"No! Get out!" I shouted at Rhydon, who was struggling to no avail to clear the goo off of itself. I heard its cries growing weaker, but it finally managed to knock the offending ooze off. Without even an order, it lifted its foot as high as it could.

"Fissure!" I thought to myself, "lets see that muk withstand this."

Before it could slam the foot down though, Rhydon toppled to the ground, knocked out by the toxins.

"GOD DAMN IT!" I shouted frustratedly. "Alakazam, use psybeam!"

The psychic pokemon widened its stance and shot a beam of pure mental energy from between its eyes, hitting the muk and throwing it into the wall, knocking it unconscious.

Before I could call Alakazam back, I saw a shadow as murkrow appeared on its shoulder.

"NO! You knew I would do that, you were waiting for me to put it into play weren't you!" I yelled and cried in frustration.

"Yep, now use dark pulse." He replied, his face devoid of any emotion.

The bird faded into darkness and it seemed like all of the shadows in the world condensed into that spot. Everything went completely black, and it felt as if all the evils in the world had been released, then all at once, it was bright again, and the crow was back on Red's shoulder. I looked down and saw my alakazam out stone cold, a terrified expression across its face.

"God damn, if I cant take you out, I'll make you give up!" I swore, looking down at the girl who was still struggling under the weight of my arcanine's unconscious body.

"Don't you dare you bastard!" he shouted, his face turning to a mask of pure fury, his eyes burning red. "DON'T TOUCH HER!"

"Blastoise," I said, almost surprised at how cold I sounded, "Kick the girl around a little bit, lets see if the boy wont see the light."

The tortoise lumbered over, and yanked her out from under the big dog.

"Please! Don't hurt me! HELP ME RED!!" she screamed.

I heard a shrill whistle and saw red drop a small pipe. Before I could question the meaning of this gesture, a huge orange shape slammed Blastoise into a building, knocking the girl out of its hand and throwing her across the ground into a building where she crumpled.

"Charizard," I heard Red shout from behind me, "Kill them both. Hyper Beam."

I dropped to my knees, and watched as Blastoise flew through the air towards me.

I had lost.

I was going to die.

In retrospect, I should have died. The only thing that saved me was my blastoise's quick thinking. It grabbed onto me, and hardened its shell, withdrawing everything but its arms inside. I heard Charizard roar and felt the impact of its hyper-beam, enough power to send Blastoise flying through the air, and enough to knock me out on contact.

Only one person had a charizard that powerful.

But it couldn't be....

Ash was dead....


End file.
